3 ms·
Ah, the sort of editor who knows just enough about language to be dangerous.
by _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
Ah, the sort of editor who knows just enough about language to be dangerous.
- jcranmer 9y agoThe injunction against ending with prepositions entirely comes from people wanting to turn English into Latin (similarly for split infinitives). There is no basis to deny it, and it's one of those rules where trying to adhere to it makes things harder, not easier, to understand.
- _emacsomancer_ 9y agoYes, and relatively recently too (lots of this sort of "all languages should be Latin" nonsense is from the 1700s). You probably know the old joke, a visitor is on the Harvard campus, and says to one of the passing students: Visitor: Excuse me, can you tell me where the library's at? Student: Here at Harvard, sir, we do not end a sentence with a preposition. Visitor: I do beg your pardon. Allow me to rephrase my question. Can you tell me where the library's at, you pompous asshole? [I mean, if one is going to make up silly rules, at least they should have enough knowledge to know that the relevant domain in which the ridiculous rule would be applied isn't the sentence, but the clause.]